Used for centuries leather has yet to be surpassed by any other material due to its combination of flexibility and durability. FEIT footwear is mainly built using vegetable tanned cow hides, a byproduct of the meat industry. Almost every component in FEIT footwear is made from leather: uppers, insoles, midsoles, outsoles, heels and laces.

Vegetable tanned leather breathes as in nature. It is non-irritant, soft to touch, ages richly over time and biodegrades. The leather remains neutral regardless of the temperature, and does not retain sweat or odor, allowing FEIT shoes to be worn barefoot and get better with age.

2. Treatments

Bark, leaves, and chestnuts used in vegetable tanning

Natural materials, treated naturally, breathe as they do in nature.

FEIT leathers are developed throughout Europe with tanneries that focus on traditional, vegetable and metal free tanning. The tanning process gets its name from the tannins, contained in most vegetables, employed to transform a skin. Most of the ingredients used in the tanning process have been in use for the last two thousand years. Today, in order to expedite the process and to get a higher level of consistency, powdered extracts are commonly used. They are obtained mainly from three species of trees: Chestnut from Europe, which gives the leather a dark brown color; Quebracho from Argentina, which makes leathers flexible and creates a warm amber color; and Acacia from Brazil and South Africa, which imbues the leather with a rose–yellow color and a firm feeling.

Fresh hides are commonly treated with lime juice to prepare the skin. Sea salt is then used to remove hairs and preserve the skin, before the dyeing process begins. Codfish oil is used to finish the skins, giving the leather a rich hand feel and a nice scent.

Salt & Oil used to preserve and finish hides

Beeswax and FEIT x Skidmore's leather care cream

3. Components

Bamboo shank stabilizers

Use all natural components to ground and stabilize the wearer.

The sole is made up of six individual components. An internal leather midsole, a layer of natural cork, a bamboo shank stabilizer, a buffalo leather outsole, a rubber tread and a vegetable leather strip which encases the sole to the upper.

Leather insoles

Cork Insoles

Wear & Aging

New and worn leather

Vegetable leather will develop a patina and age beautifully over time. Shoes should only be treated with natural products to preserve the natural ageing process and breathability of the leather.

Synthetic materials require the use of toxic materials, petrol and energy and you can’t ever destroy them - they become landfill. When leather is treated naturally the difference in the quality and the environmental impact is massive. As all FEIT materials are natural, the product will eventually biodegrade and return to the Earth.